Cell phone ban

HaHa that's okay. I will keep my cell, you can't even find public phones anymore, besides having all the change and wasted time. I will keep my nice and loaded truck, my cells, and even my laptop hereJ

 

Dispatch called the fuel desk and you would be paged to the white, red, or black courtesy phone! Then you'd go back to the resturant and find someone else at your table and your half eaten shoe leather steak thrown in the garbage. AHH, the good old days!

 

Running OTR, you probably run the interstates 99% of the time...hardly "the middle of nowhere". If you want to drive in the middle of nowhere, you've got to get off the beaten path....out in the sticks....where you might drive for 2 or 3 hours up some 2-lane road and not see more than a car or two...if you even see that many....where most cell phones are nothing more than a paperweight anyway because there aren't any cell towers you can reach.

Not all "local" work is P&D in the big city.

 

Sounds like the interstate in ND and MT.

 

I know I'm showing my age, but somehow we survived without cell phones, pagers, qualcomms or PC's.
I don't think life as we know it will end if we have to wait until we break to send texts, make calls or play video games.
I don't think WalMart is out of line in it's requirements.
After all, you as the driver only stand to lose $2,750, but the employer is on the hook for as much as $11,000.
And trust me... courts would love to go after a 'fat cat' like Walmart.
BTW, I have heard of other companies that won't allow you to use your phone while inside the truck even if you're shut down for your 10.

 

going to Dodge City Ks, Liberal Ks, Marshalltown Iowa isnt quite the same as the New Jersey Turnpike either

 

The cell phone ban wasn't the big issue. It was the requirement that drivers provide them with their cell phone records whenever they wanted so they could audit and enforce the ban. Walmart has since modified the policy to allow phone calls with a legal hands free device, but to keep the time to a minimum; around 2 minutes or less I think was the guideline. (very reasonable) Additionally, it appears they have dropped the cell phone records for auditing purposes. So far the only time I've heard of them requesting cell phone records is if the driver is involved in an accident. (again, reasonable)

 

I got into it the other day with an 'old timer'. If the old days were so great, like he says, then why does he have a phone, laptop, TV, XBox, ViewCube, GPS, fridge, and microwave??? Would he give them up? Of course not.

 

You are lucky, good for you. If it wasn't for my husbands cell phone he would have died on a dirt road somewhere in CA! I will not work for companies like that. It's not always about the money.

 

Um we DO run in the middle of no where quite often. Going an hour or so before seeing a trailer, car, farm equipment, or something in the middle of the fields. Being OTR also doesn't mean you only deliver to cities.We will go hours without service delivering all 48, but without our cell phones my husband would not be here today. You can pry ours from our dead hands. And you get to go home every night, our phones is our link to family. Again good luck finding a pay phone! Modern technology is a wonderful thing, if you are responsible and use it properly.